Watertight container

ABSTRACT

An inflatable cushion including a watertight container adapted thereto, the container being provided with an eye for threading a carrying strap therethrough. The container includes an upper and a lower hollow part, each of which is open at the front face, and an intermediate piece whereby the container is provided with separated upper and lower cavities. The upper and lower parts are attachable directly to one another without said intermediate piece to form a cavity of about double size. The cushion is adjusted in its dimensions to the container so that it will fit into one of the separated cavities only when in a non-inflated condition. The watertightness of each one of the cavities is maintained when the other part (forming the respective other cavity) is separated from the intermediate piece.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to watertight containers which may be carried bythe user also during swimming or other aquatic sports.

Such containers of an approximately cylindrical shape have been known tobe used as possible receptacles for stowing away jewelry and othervaluable objects.

However, such known containers consist of two halves to be joined by ascrew joint only, in the interior of which there is one through-goingcavity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The container according to the present invention consists of an upperpart and a lower part and an intermediate piece creating thus twoseparate, watertight cavities, one of such cavities containing a folded,inflatable cushion which is adapted to the receiving cavity in shapingand dimensioning and further configuration. Such cushion may be used asa normal underlayer for usual sun bathing, its main purpose is howeverits application as rescue cushion in case of sports accidents etc. Avariety of differing cushion shapes may be envisaged for such purpose,from simple slanting-edged cushions to cushions having a U-shaped crosssection or depressions in the cushion center in order to keep the headof the person to be propped up in a defined position.

As a special embodiment, the relatively flat formed cushion may beshaped approximately in C-form with a recess in the center correspondingapproximately to the size of the neck, so that such a cushion can belaid, when empty, around the neck of a swimmer and will keep his headupright and above the water surface after being inflated.

The watertight connection between the two parts and the intermediatepiece is effected by means of a screwed joint or of an appropriate,watertight plug connection. Such joints are made in a manner that, afterremoval of the intermediate piece, selectively an upper part and a lowerpart may also directly be connected for obtaining a cavity of aboutdouble size. This, however, will be realized in exceptional cases only,because the normal use will be that one of said cavities houses theinflatable cushion whereas valuable goods will be stored in the other,protected against water.

The user carries said watertight container either attached to a carryingstrap laid around his neck, which is threaded through an eye of thecontainer, or attached to his bathing suit by means of a fastening clipattached to the outer wall of one of the two parts. Said container mayhave a circular cross section as needed for a threaded joint, eithertapering from below upward, or may have its widest cross section also inthe area of the intermediate piece.

In shaping the cushion, attention must be paid to arranging the feedhose attachment for inflating the cushion at an appropriate spot so thatit juts out of the opening when the folded or rolled-up cushion isintroduced into its respective cavity, so that this feed hose attachmentwill have, at the same time, the function of a handle for pulling thecushion out of the cavity. For this purpose, this feed hose attachmentis to be fastened preferably to one end of the shortest edge of thecushion as the cushion will be rolled up around said shortest edge forshoving said roll into the cavity of the container.

In order to be in a position of taking said cushion out of the containerin a most simple way, said feed hose attachment for blowing up thecushion will be shaped advantageously in the form of a nipple, i.e. itwill be provided at one end with a flattened thickening. Theintermediate piece may then show a recess adapted to said nipple shapeinto which the nipple is fitted in. This will have the effect that, onremoving the said intermediate piece from the respective part of thecontainer, the folded up cushion is automatically pulled out of thecontainer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, some embodiments in accordance with the invention willbe shown by way of examples, taking reference to the attached drawings.In such drawings show:

FIG. 1 the closed container including the said intermediate piece;

FIG. 2 the upper part of the said container with the clip disposed atthe back outer wall of said upper part for hooking the container to thebathing suit;

FIG. 3a through 3e various different embodiments of the said cushion;

FIG. 4 a cross sectional representation of a special embodiment of theintermediate piece and of the said feed hose attachment for inflatingthe said cushion;

FIG. 5 a cross sectional representation along the line A--A in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 a representation of the container having a flat, rectangularcross sectional shape.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows the container in its closed condition, consisting of theupper part 5, the lower part 6, the intermediate piece 7 and thesealings 10 as represented in FIG. 1.

In the left part of FIG. 1, the container is shown in a break-awayrepresentation in the area of the intermediate piece 7, there thethreads are recognizable by means of which the lower part 6 is screwedinto the intermediate piece 7, and the intermediate piece 7 is screwedinto the upper part 5. A circular, circumferential sealing 10 isdisposed there between the various parts each for sealing the thread.Such threads have the same specified diameter each so that, afterremoval of the intermediate piece 7, the lower part 6 may be screweddirectly into the upper part 5. Since the sealings 10 are placed each onthose parts which carry the respective male screw thread, the uppersealing 10, referring to FIG. 1, will remain on the intermediate piece 7whereas the lower sealing 10 will remain on the lower part 6, so that,on screwing the lower part 6 to the upper part 5, there is one sealingpresent between the two parts.

Whereas FIG. 1 shows the total container 1 having a circular crosssection as required for a thread, and increasing slightly from abovedownward, FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of a container 1 which is made flathaving a substantially rectangular cross section and likewise consistingof an upper part 25 and a lower part 26 the upper part 25 slightlytapering toward the upper edge. Both in FIG. 1 and in FIG. 6, an eye 3is provided in the vicinity of the upper edge of the container whichserves for accepting a carrying strap 4. Since the solution with therectangular cross section does not permit a screw joint by means of athread, a plug connection has been selected in FIG. 6, thewatertightness being guaranteed by means of a circumferential projectingbulge mating with a circumferential groove of respective shape formed inthe engaging part. The various parts must be provided with sufficientresilience for engaging watertight into one another so that they arepreferably made of plastic material.

A specialty of the solution in accordance with FIG. 6 is that there theintermediate piece 27 is again divisible into two parts, so that the onepart of the intermediate piece 27 can remain attached to the upper part25 of the container for closing such part, whereas the other part of theintermediate piece 27 can remain attached to the lower part 26 of thecontainer for closing that part. The separation according to FIG. 6 ispossible by shifting the two parts of the intermediate piece 27 withrespect to one another along the junction plane and joining themrespectively separating them by means of a kind of dovetail guide or thelike. Thereby the container 11 may be divided into two separatecontainers each of which is closed watertight in itself, which can beconnected by a simple manipulation to make a single container 11.

Also in that case it is guaranteed by appropriately shaping the beads orthe respective counterparts, the circumferential grooves, that theintermediate piece 27 can be left off, and an upper part 25 and a lowerpart 26 of the container 11 directly engage into one another forobtaining a large, through-going cavity instead of the cavities 8 and 9,as it is possible also with the container in FIG. 1.

Whereas it is absolutely required, in case of the plug connection ofFIG. 6, that the material is sufficiently flexible for engaging ordisengaging said plug connection, it is necessary, in case of the screwjoint according to FIG. 1, that the parts of the container besufficiently rigid, at least in the area of the threads, forguaranteeing a uniform and constant compression of the sealings 10 andtherewith a sufficient tightness of the cavities 8 and 9. On the otherhand, it is desirable to make the container in its totality as much aspossible soft and resilient, thus increasing not only the easiness ofcarrying it but minimizing the risk of hindrance and injuries. Inaddition, it is desirable for various reasons to treat the material ofwhich container 1 or its upper and lower parts 5 and 6 are madecomprising odorous substances which would continuously emanate during along period of time. The emanation of odorous substances isadvantageous, on the one hand for better marketing, in case thecontainer 1 is shaped in its outer form resembling e.g. a fruit or ananimal, as in such case the implanted odorous matters could correspondto that of the represented fruit etc. On the other hand, the inclusionand permanent emanation of odorous substances could be advantageous alsofor safety reasons. On the one hand, at present the synthetization ofodoriferous substances which have a deterring effect upon certain fishspecies is about to be achieved, a feature which may be used e.g. forthe protection of divers from fish of prey such as shark. On the otherhand, such odorous matters could be used also for easier finding amissing person.

The possibility of integrating odorous substances depends however on therespective type of basic plastic used. There it was shown, that theintegration of such odoriferous substances, and especially their uniformemanation in small quantities, may be effected in a very simple manner,in particular with soft and deformable plastics. For such reasons,preferably soft plastic should be used for producing at least part ofthe said container. Since, however, particularly screwed joints mustconsist of rigid material because otherwise the watertightness of suchscrewed joint in screwed-up containers cannot be guaranteed, only theparts averted from the screw threads of the upper and lower parts 5 or 6may be selected for being made of soft plastic. The threads themselvesand preferably the whole intermediate piece 7 must be made of arelatively hard material.

FIG. 2 shows the container 1 seen from the reverse side consisting ofthe upper part 5 and the intermediate piece 7 only. The lower part 6 inthe case under consideration has been taken off, and therefore only onesealing 10 is visible between the upper part 5 and the intermediatepiece 7 in FIG. 2, the lower sealing 10 of FIG. 1 being removed togetherwith the lower part 6. Since the intermediate piece 7 is tight in crossdirection with respect to the longitudinal axis of the container 1, atightly closed cavity 8 is present in the upper part 5, such as e.g.needed for conserving valuable objects. For that reason, the interiordiameter of the upper part 5 should at least have the size of a 2-DMcoin.

Furthermore, the clip 13 can be seen in FIG. 2, which is worked into thebackward outer side of the upper part 5 so that it will be possible e.g.to hook the container 1 into the clothing by means of such a clip 13.The clip itself may be made of the same material as the upper part 5being thereby integral with same, but also of a separate material suchas stainless metal which is firmly connected to the upper part 5 of thecontainer 1 for example by rivets.

FIGS. 3a-3e show differing embodiments of the cushion 2. Whereas thecushion shapes of the FIGS. 3a-3e serve for an as comfortable aspossible--in cases of emergency also safe--bedding of the head on a hardsubsoil, the cushion shape according to FIG. 3e serves quite anotherpurpose.

FIG. 3a shows a cushion with a substantially U-shaped cross section. Inthat embodiment, the free legs of the U may be placed upon the subsoilwhereas the head to be propped up rests on the connecting crosspiece. Inthat manner, not only a variation of the support height but also avariation of the resiliency of the cushion 2 may be set by variation ofthe air pressure on inflating. In addition, this U-shape has theadvantage that in cases where a support of the head as stable aspossible is a requirement such as in the case of accident victims, theU-shaped contour may be reversed so that the head is supported in theclearance between the legs of the U standing up which secure the headagainst toppling over to the side. The large outer radius at thetransition between the connecting crosspiece and the free outer legscauses thereby a good propping of the central area as opposed to thefree legs depending on increased inflating pressure.

Contrary thereto, the shape of FIG. 3c constitutes a modification inwhich the outer contour of the U is made in angular form. Although thisshape causes a somewhat worse support behavior when the cushion isplaced upside down upon its free legs with the recess downward, yet theproduction of the inflatable cushion consisting mostly of rectangularcut pieces is considerably simplified.

Reasons of production favor therefore also a shape according to FIG. 3b,the basic form of which was a rectangular parallelepipedon the largestsides of which lying opposite to one another are not parallel butdisposed in a slightly angular position with respect to one another,resulting thus in a slopingly ascending support face which allows acomfortable propping of the head.

In comparison thereto, the shape of the cushion of FIG. 3d could beconsidered to be a combination of the advantages of FIGS. 3b and 3c,because this cushion shape consists exclusively of parts with straightfaces despite the relatively complicated form, i.e. a basic shape inaccordance with FIG. 3b with a worked-in depression which is open towardthe narrow front face, allowing thus an uncomplicated production in theform of an inflatable cushion.

All those cushion 2 shapes must certainly be based upon the adjustmentto the interior space of the lower part 6 of the container, because thecushion must be easily introducible into that cavity 9 in a folded orrolled-up condition. Advantageously, the cushion, empty of air, istherefore rolled up after perhaps having been folded up once or twice,making thus a cylindrically rolled body in correspondence with thecylindrical interior shape of the cavity 9. On shaping the cushion itmust be taken into consideration that the hose attachment 16 forinflating the cushion 2 must be attached in a manner that it is directedtoward the opening of said cavity 9 after the cushion is stowed away insaid cavity 9. This is achieved if said hose attachment 16 is placed atthe end of one edge of the cushion 2 which is thus situated if thecushion is rolled up, on folding, around an axis extending parallelthereto. That will be, as a rule, the shortest outer edge which definesone of the three directions of the approximately parallelepipedal basicshape of the cushion 2. So e.g. the cushion shape of FIG. 3b is a flatparallelepipedal shape so that the vertical edges of said cushionrepresent the shortest distances in the three space axes. That is thereason why said hose attachment 16 should be placed at the end of one ofthe vertical edges which, however, not necessarily must be the shortestone of said vertical edges.

The same applies evidently also for the shape of the cushion 2 asrepresented in FIG. 3e. Such cushion has the form of a rectangularparallelepipedon or also as shown in FIG. 3b, said cushion representingan approximately C-shaped form when seen from above. This means, thatthe free legs of such C-shape strongly approach one another in the frontarea of the cushion leaving, however, a clearance 18 in the center ofthe cushion 2, which has approximately a size so that such cushion 2 canbe laid around the neck when being in a non-inflated condition. If suchcushion is subsequently inflated, it is no more possible to remove saidcushion 2 from the neck due to the inflation pressure, so that saidcushion shape has the same effect on a swimmer as a lifesaving jacket,i.e. propping the head in a vertical direction and holding it above thewater surface. In order to making it easier for the user to lay thecushion around his neck and to inflate it by himself, it is requiredthat the hose attachment 16 for inflating the cushion 2 is attached tothe front edge of the cushion, in order to allow the inflation of thecushion 2 even after it has been laid around his neck.

Advantageously, the cushion 2 is still further adjusted to the cavity ofthe container 1 in which it is to be accommodated. Since the lowercavity 9 is usually provided for such purpose, the hose attachment 16for inflating the cushion 2 is configured in the form of a nipple, i.e.it will be provided with a thickened head as compared with the neck ofsuch hose attachment. Such thick head, on the one hand, facilitates theseizing of the hose attachment 16 which serves, in addition to inflatingthe cushion 2, also for pulling the cushion out of the container 1. Suchnipple form of the hose attachment 16 with its special configurationserves for being attached to the intermediate piece 7.

As FIGS. 4 and 5 show, the intermediate piece 7 is provided in additionto the through-going transversal plane 19 required for sealing thecavity 8 or 9 respectively, with another transversal plane 20 beingpresent only in part. The distance between those two transversal planesis sufficient for accommodating the thickened head 21 of thenipple-shaped hose attachment 16. Such second transversal plane 20extends from the one side of the intermediate piece 7 to beyond thecenter, however, leaves open a recess 17 in the area of the axis ofsymmetry 22 of the intermediate piece 7, which has just the dimensionrequired for laying-in the shaft 23 of the hose attachment 16. Due tothis arrangement, the hose attachment 16 can be placed into said recess17 of the transversal plane 20 of the intermediate piece 7 and can beclamped there if adequately dimensioned, the thickened head 21 of thehose attachment 16 being placed between the two transversal planes 19and 20 of the intermediate piece 7.

Due to this arrangement it is possible to pull the cushion 2 out of thelower cavity 9 immediately on detaching the intermediate piece 7 fromthe lower part 6 or 26 respectively without bothering to seize the smallhose attachment 16 being placed within the cavity 9 and pulling it out.

It is self-evident that an integral cover 24 is connected to the head 21of the hose attachment 16 as shown in FIG. 4, said cover 24 beingprovided with a locking plug for closing the blow-up opening of the hoseattachment 16 after inflating, as generally known for any inflatableobjects. Most certainly also a ball valve or a similar automaticallyacting closing member could be used instead of such a hose attachment tobe manually closed, if only the outer contours satisfy the abovedescribed adjustment requirements.

If, on the other hand, it is not preferably required to obtain a totalcavity in the size of the sum of the cavities 8 and 9, the intermediatepiece 7 and the lower piece 6 could be configured identically in apreferred embodiment, i.e. with an opening and a male screw thread inthe upper area and an approximately cylindrical interior space and acylindrical outer contour, and a lower bottom not placed at thelowermost point of that part but somewhat shifted upward, so that afemale screw thread could be made in the likewise cylindrical socketplaced below it. Such configuration would allow to screw a plurality ofintermediate pieces 7 or lower parts 6 to one another creating thus anynumber of watertight cavities 9. The upper part 5 then would correspondto the form as described above, the axial length of the said upper part5 being selected in view of the total length of the thus createdcavities 8. In this respect, said upper part 5 may be configured soshort that it substantially contains no upper cavity 8 at all butrepresents only a lid for sealingly closing the lower cavity 9.

I claim:
 1. Inflatable cushion comprising a watertight container adaptedthereto, said container being provided with an eye for threading acarrying strap therethrough, said container comprising an upper and alower hollow part each open at a front face and an intermediate piecewhereby the container is provided with separated upper and lowercavities, the upper and lower part respectively being attachabledirectly to one another without said intermediate piece to form a cavityof about double size, the cushion being adjusted in its dimensions tothe container so that it will fit into one of the separated cavitiesonly when in a non-inflated condition in a folded or rolled-up form, thewatertightness of each one of said cavities being maintained when theother part forming the respective other cavity is separated from theintermediate piece.
 2. A cushion in accordance with claim 1, whereinsaid eye is disposed at an upper edge of the upper part and the cushionis placed in the lower cavity.
 3. A cushion in accordance with claim 1,wherein the cross section of the container is continuously increasing ina downward direction.
 4. A cushion in accordance with claim 2, wherein aclip for hooking said container to an external object is worked into anouter face of the container.
 5. A cushion in accordance with claim 1,wherein one of said parts is provided with a female screw thread of aspecified diameter and the second of said parts is provided with a malescrew thread complementary to the female screw thread, and saidintermediate piece is provided with a female screw thread of thespecified diameter and a male screw thread complementary to the femalescrew thread.
 6. A cushion in accordance with claim 1, wherein the twoparts and the intermediate piece are provided with watertight plugconnections.
 7. A cushion in accordance with claim 1, wherein theintermediate piece comprises a hard plastic and the upper and lowerparts comprise at least in part a soft plastic.
 8. A cushion inaccordance with claim 1, wherein said cushion is configured in a U-shapeformed by free legs thereof, the length of the free legs of such U-shapecross section being a smallest extension of the cushion.
 9. A cushion inaccordance with claim 1, wherein a shortest edge of said cushion isshorter than a longest length of the lower cavity of the container. 10.A cushion in accordance with claim 1, wherein said cushion has the formof a square parallelogram with a slanting surface.
 11. A cushion inaccordance with claim 10, wherein said slanting surface of the cushionhas a recess which is surrounded with a protruding border on threesides.
 12. A cushion in accordance with claim 1, wherein the cushion hasa depression with a circular cross section.
 13. A cushion in accordancewith claim 1, wherein the cushion has an approximately C-shaped form ifseen from above, a clearance of which disposed approximately in thecenter corresponding to the diameter of the neck of a human being.
 14. Acushion in accordance with claim 1, wherein a hose attachment forinflating the cushion is disposed on the cushion in such a manner thatupon accommodating the cushion in a folded-up condition in a cavity ofthe container, said hose attachment points in a direction towards anopening of such cavity.
 15. A cushion in accordance with claim 14,wherein the hose attachment comprises a shaft and a head which isthickened with respect to said shaft.
 16. A cushion in accordance withclaim 15, wherein said intermediate piece comprises a first transverseplane at a first end thereof and a second transverse plane at a secondopposite end thereof, said second transverse plane being provided with arecess into which fits the shaft of the hose attachment, whereby thethickened head of said hose attachement is accommodated between the twotransverse planes of the intermediate piece.
 17. A cushion in accordancewith claim 1, wherein the container has a flat, approximatelyrectangular cross section.
 18. A cushion in accordance with claim 1,wherein the intermediate piece comprises two parts separable across anaxis of symmetry by pushing the two parts asunder, whereby two sealedpart containers are created together with the two parts.
 19. A cushionin accordance with claim 1, wherein the container is impregnated with atleast one odoriferous substance.
 20. A cushion in accordance with claim19, wherein said odoriferous substance is selected from the groupconsisting of fruit scents and shark repellents.
 21. Inflatable cushioncomprising a watertight container adapted thereto, said container beingprovided with an eye for threading a carrying strap therethrough, saidcontainer comprising an upper and a lower hollow part each open at afront face and an intermediate piece whereby the container is providedwith separated upper and lower cavities, the upper and lower partrespectively being attachable directly to one another without saidintermediate piece to form a cavity of about double size, the cushionbeing adjusted in its dimensions to the container so that it will fitinto one of the separated cavities only when in a non-inflated conditionin a folded or rolled-up form, the watertightness of each one of saidcavities being maintained when the other part forming the respectiveother cavity is separated from the intermediate piece, said intermediatepiece comprising a first transverse plane at a first end thereof and asecond transverse plane at a second opposite end thereof, said cushionfurther comprising a hose attachment for inflating the cushion, saidhose attachment comprising a shaft and a head which is thickened withrespect to said shaft, said second transverse plane being provided witha recess into which fits the shaft of the hose attachment, whereby thehead of said hose attachment is accommodated between the two transverseplanes of the intermediate piece.
 22. Inflatable cushion comprising awatertight container adapted thereto, said container being provided withan eye for threading a carrying strap therethrough, said containercomprising an upper and a lower hollow part each open at a front faceand an intermediate piece whereby the container is provided withseparated upper and lower cavities, the upper and lower partrespectively being attachable directly to one another without saidintermediate piece to form a cavity of about double size, the cushionbeing adjusted in its dimensions to the container so that it will fitinto one of the separated cavities only when in a non-inflated conditionin a folded or rolled-up form, the watertightness of each one of saidcavities being maintained when the other part forming the respectiveother cavity is separated from the intermediate piece, wherein theintermediate piece comprises two parts separable across an axis ofsymmetry by pushing the parts asunder, whereby two sealed partcontainers are created together with the two parts.